Environmental rights in a quagmire: A critical review of indigenous rights and plastic pollution

Nwafor, Austin

Abstract

The global problem of plastic pollution is now one of the biggest human and environmental rights problems affecting all ecosystems, organisms, people, and the health of the entire planet. Because of its affordability and ubiquity, plastic is used everywhere and on a monumental scale. It is found plentifully in places as remote as the Arctic and Mount Everest. Plastic pollution poses significant environmental and health risks and has decimated the human rights of indigenous and vulnerable communities in various ways without accountability, checks or balances. This is contrary to the position of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which recognised the right to a healthy environment as a universal human right in 2021. This right is intended to catalyze change to create a just and sustainable future.

Recently, international meetings of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) have taken place to negotiate and draft the Global Plastic Treaty. But so far, the meetings have featured a small number of Indigenous Peoples due to a lack of funding for their full and effective participation in the negotiation, even though this will be the most significant international environmental instrument since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Paragraph 4 of the INC resolution provides that, when negotiating the instrument, the negotiators should consider the best available scientific evidence, including Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge, as well as the need for a financial mechanism to support the implementation of the instrument, including the option of a special multilateral fund. The original goal of the international agreement was to completely stop the use of disposable plastic products by 2040 and to use only non-toxic materials that will not release hazardous chemicals throughout their life cycle. This would represent a huge loss for the oil corporations that produce plastic, and they are fighting back. This paper argues that plastic pollution has not been effectively governed by the extant international environmental rights instruments, especially as it relates to the precarious position of Indigenous communities.

Using the socio-legal method and doctrinal approach, this paper examines the gap in the international legal instruments that protect the Indigenous people concerning their everyday experience of plastic degradation in their communities. The paper finds that plastic waste not only contributes to environmental degradation but is also a factor in climate change and a threat to Indigenous Peoples, their territories, waters, traditional lifestyles, health, and traditional knowledge. The main raw material for plastic production is oil, the extraction of which violates the rights of Indigenous Peoples and damages their territories and natural resources. The paper contends that the forthcoming Global Plastic Treaty can only be optimised if it is drafted against the backdrop of international human rights legal instruments which protect Indigenous people's rights.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Challenges and the Future of Minority and Indigenous Rights Protection Conference
• Start Date: Mar 5, 2025
• End Date: Mar 7, 2025
• Acceptance Date: Nov 18, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 29, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/14152163